My goal was mainly just that, to take the heaviest touch-up sequence I can think of, and go with that. There aren't too many finishers out there faster than a 12k Shapton, if there are any, the wear on a razor would be even less than this, if one uses pastes, or a gentler finisher.

04-19-2012, 03:22 PM

Lynn

1 Attachment(s)

What I like about this as well is that it also shows how little wear there is period when the honing is done properly. So in my mind, taping remains purely a personal preference or marketing argument, although there are definite uses for it in specific situations.

I am glad you started this thread, I almost forgot a weekend test I made about 2 months ago. I was debating about this tape stuff too, especially the one regarding angle change over time. I got out a russian razor I was honing, and emulated the following:

Lets assume you do 20 strokes on a finisher to refresh your razors edge every week, for 50 years, and you shave with it every day, no other razor used. Thats a total of 52.000 strokes.

I did about 10.000 strokes on a 12k Shapton pro, can you imagine how much time and lapping that took? :rofl2:

I measured the razor before and after it, and the difference came out roughly at 0.1mm, so if I would have gone farther, the width loss would have been about 0.5mm for 50 years of constant use, but lets calculate with 1mm. Thats almost nothing, even for a 5/8 razor. So in my opinion this myth is busted, the bevel angle won't change considerably if you care for your razor. Or bettter I should say that it will change, but no human is capable to spot this small of a difference.

08-08-2012, 09:54 AM

onimaru55

Quote:

Originally Posted by HNSB

I have learned much from Lee, the master.

I would call him "Master Lee", but I'm pretty sure that is patented, copyrighted, and trademarked.

On the one hand, we see that honing with or without tape will cause a only marginal loss of steel at the shoulder. It is also proposed that over a lifetime this marginal loss will not change the bevel to any significant degree or would keep it from attaining a shavable edge.

On the other hand, you see blades with a great degree of hone wear on the auction sites and elesewhere. So it did occur.

I going to suggest that the blades that had a large degree of hone wear weren't, in fact, poorly honed by their owners at all. If the owners of the razors cared for them as much we aficionados do now, they were not going to treat them in that manner. We see the degree of concern that newbies like myself have towards all aspects of the hobby, including honing, it probably existed back then also.

The wear I see on razors looks like it was done by mechanical means. I think that many of the razors that we see with hone wear were honed by commercial sharpeners looking get an edge as quickly as possible. In urban areas, it might have been the guy in the knife truck or sharpening service that went around sharpening knives, scissors and razors. Slap it on the wheel, let the sparks fly and strop it up. "Thank you Maam, that will be quarter." They would be looking at turnaround to make a profit.

There's no evidence to back this up until somebody wants to try another experiment with a wheel and beater razors. Then, however, I think you'll really be able to recreate the type of hone wear we see on some older blades.

My 2 cents.

08-09-2012, 04:59 AM

tinkersd

Thank you very much as I had completely forgoten about the trucks that came around every once and a while in my area. It looked like a circus wagon and would do knives, scissors and the like, though I do not remember them blokes doin' any Str8' razors, and then I was awfully young at the time.
As to Tapeing I always do simply because It will NOT hurt the angle of the dangle in any way and will save on spine wear.
AND I like the way it feels on my J.Nat's as I stroke away my dulling blues.
I can't abide a dull or unfitting tool, even If I don't use the thing that often, I in fact have a block plane that I honed to a fair thee well and after use I oil the plane blade up and stored in away sharp and ready for the next use even if that won't be for some time.
Thank you for this thread, great info. !!

tinkersd

02-21-2017, 07:59 PM

Slawman

I guess it depends on the amount of pressure you use. Usually "Less is More"! I find the Shapton stones pretty agressive & need less pressure. This is true with the Shapton Glass & Pro lines. Hence I am moving to Shapton hones. I have a 1K Pro & a 16K glass & I am looking to get a 5 Kor6K hone & a 8K to round out my Shapton collection. I won't be getting any more hones for a while as we hope to be moving to Ashville NC this Summer. Sick of the politics that are ruining our state so it's "Time for Me to FLY" !!